First Step on an amazing journey​​​

Baptism/Thanksgiving

​Christenings - We are delighted that you are thinking about getting your son or daughter Christened. A Christening is the first step of an amazing journey with God, parents, godparents, friends, family and the church. A lifetime of discovering more about love, faith and hope begins – a wonderful moment to celebrate.​When an infant is baptised the parents and godparents promise to pray for them, to draw them into the community of the church, and help them to walk in the way of self-giving love that Christ offered us. The service requires parents and godparents to declare their own Christian faith, to turn away from all that is evil, and to turn to Christ as the one through whom we are reunited to God our Heavenly Father.See https://churchofenglandchristenings.org/ for further information.

Thanksgiving - This is a service in which parents, friends and family give thanks for the birth (or adoption) of a child and we pray for God’s blessing upon the baby, parents and home.

It may be followed later by baptism, indeed many families choose a Thanksgiving service because it allows the child to make up their own mind about the Christian faith when they are older, but it is not necessarily a first step to baptism. It is simply a different service - a service of saying Thank you and asking for God’s Blessing on your child, rather than one of making promises about active membership of the church.

Godparents are not required for a thanksgiving, but parents may wish to name "sponsors" who can fulfil the role of supporting the child and family.

We also encourage young people and adults to be baptised and to then be Confirmed into the Church of England. For more info about this see here